CORRESPONDENCE. 
497 
shrewdness. For he who can sustain himself before such bodies 
of men, his classes and associate professors, on vain and empty 
pretensions, must be a man of more ability than he who does the 
same thing by fair and honorable means. While I lay no claim 
to the profession of “ genius,” I believe my work may be taken as 
a fair average of that done by my former classmates in college. 
Why I should be selected from among all these as the special tar¬ 
get for every irresponsible man who is willing to throw dirt from 
behind an anonymous signature, will be best understood by those 
who best know the meaning of the word envy. I do not claim 
exemption from fair and honorable criticism, but I do claim that 
some of these articles bear upon them the stamp of malevolence, 
much better defined than an honest purpose to further the inter¬ 
ests of the veterinary profession. Every one engaged in this work 
knows something of the difficulties under which we labor in bring¬ 
ing about a proper recognition of the profession. When there is 
added to these expected difficulties, the opposition that springs 
from jealousy and rivalry, no matter how feeble and obscure the 
source, the work is by so much complicated. While I have no 
standard of measurement sufficiently delicate to detect any effect 
from this opposition to my work, the want of evil fruits does not 
in any way abate the guilt that attaches to such unprofessional 
conduct. 
Much is now being said of the “ low condition of the veterin¬ 
ary profession ” in this country. I would recommend as a whole¬ 
some sanitary measure for the removal of the evil, the abandon¬ 
ment by some of the professional brethren of that stereotyped 
form of petition, “ Lord bless me and my wife, my son John and 
his wife, us four and no more 
M. Starker. 
Richland, Iowa, Feb. 13, 1880. 
[We had scarce considered it necessary to inform readers of 
the Review, that the editor in no wise agrees with the sentiments 
of all correspondents, and does not hold himself responsible for 
